The present invention relates to an improved attaching clip, and more particularly, to an improved attaching clip for use with rolls of steel wire mesh reinforcing which comprise a portion of concrete negative buoyancy coatings applied to oil and gas transmission pipe lines.
In the past, rolls of steel wire mesh reinforcing have been manufactured especially to serve as reinforcing for concrete negative buoyancy coatings applied to oil and gas transmission pipe lines. Even though such concrete coatings are applied over pipe, which provides a structural base, a reinforcing with a large bonding area is needed to make the coatings resistant to the handling shocks and bending as the pipes conform to the contours of the bottoms of bays and rivers when they are laid in place. While concrete coatings can be installed by positioning the reinforcing spirally about a pipe and then by applying the concrete pneumatically, coating machines have been utilized for a number of years to continuously apply the steel mesh reinforcing to the pipes at the same time as the concrete is applied. The use of such coating machines has the advantage of applying the negative buoyancy coatings to pipes at a relatively high rate while assuring that the wire mesh reinforcing is properly positioned in the coating for maximum reinforcement.
Steel wire mesh reinforcing has generally been supplied for use in concrete negative buoyancy coatings in 900 foot rolls. The coating machines are conventionally operated at a rate such that the mesh reinforcing in such a 900 foot roll is generally installed in about 1 to 2 minutes. Consequently, operators of coating machines have in the past attempted to find means by which the leading edge of a new roll of wire mesh reinforcing could be readily connected to the trailing end of a roll which is then being applied to the pipes so as to minimize coating machine "down time."
In the past, a wire clip has been used by operators of coating machines to interconnect the leading edge of a new roll with the trailing edge of an old roll of steel wire mesh reinforcing. This prior clip included two pairs of spaced cross wires that are secured together at the points at which the wires overlap and that are arranged so that the prior clip generally had a "tic-tac-toe-like" appearance. The opposite ends of one of the pairs of wires of the clip were formed as hooks, and these hooks were used by the operator of the coating machine to interconnect the mesh defining wires adjacent to the trailing end of the old roll with the leading end of the new roll. While this prior clip generally performed its intended function adequately, it had to be basically "hand made" and was consequently relatively expensive to properly
It is a primary object of my present invention to provide an improved attaching clip for connecting the leading or free end of a new roll of steel wire mesh reinforcing with the trailing end of a similar roll of reinforcing while the rolls are being used with a coating machine for applying concrete negative buoyancy coating to pipes. Another object of my present invention is to provide an improved attaching clip of the type described which may be secured to the leading or free end of a roll of steel wire mesh reinforcing by the manufacturer of the reinforcing so as to be used initially to connect the leading end to the remaining portion of the roll during storage and handling and which then may be used to attach the leading end of the roll to the trailing end of a similar roll of mesh reinforcing by the operator of a coating machine when the rolls are being applied as a part of the concrete negative buoyancy coating of a pipe.
More specifically, the improved attaching clip of my present invention includes an integral wire body having a transverse portion and a pair of integral arm portions. The one ends of the arm portions are connected with the ends of the transverse portion while the other ends of the arm portions are bent or formed as an integral crook or hook-like portion. The distal end portion of these crook portions project back toward the transverse portion and are disposed at an acute angle with the longitudinal axes of the arm portions. The transverse portion is adapted to be secured to the leading end of a roll of steel wire mesh reinforcing and is offset or slightly spaced from the plane defined by the two arm portions. When the improved attaching clip is properly secured to the leading end of the roll, the longitudinal axis of the transverse portion is disposed transversely to the longitudinal axis of the roll, i.e. to the axis parallel to the path of travel of the roll. The distal end portions of the improved clip are adapted so that they may be readily slipped over the mesh defining wires of either the trailing end of a roll of wire mesh reinforcing or another portion of the roll to which the clip is secured. The crook portions of the improved clip are constructed so that they function as a spring lock and thus assist in retaining the mesh defining wires within the crook portion once the end portions have been slipped over these wires.
These and other objects and advantages of my present invention will become apparent to those having skill in this art from the following description of the preferred embodiment of my invention, as shown in the accompanying drawings.